When my client arrived for her regularly scheduled neck maintenance appointment, she was on the phone with her PCP. Complaining of bladder “burning and pressure,” she couldn’t believe that her culture results were negative for a UTI.
Twenty minutes into the treatment, she needed a bathroom break. “I feel like I have to go all the time!” So while she was out of the room, I pulled out Travel & Simmons. Hmmm … what muscles could be referring to the bladder region? Rectus abdominus, external oblique, marginally QL … maybe …
I asked her permission if we could explore a few muscles in the low back and pelvis. Lying prone, I observed increased lordosis and anterior tilt to her sacrum. Treating QL, erector spinae and sacral multifidi did not reproduce her bladder pain. However, the anterior sacrum tilt was my clue.
In a supine position, treating the ILIACUS took pressure off her bladder immediately! Long static holds deep into the iliacus muscle combined with XXF (cross fiber friction) on the pelvic attachment of rectus abdominus took away all of her symptoms. I finished the treatment with a muscle-energy technique for pelvic derotation.
As it turns out, a lower abdominal exercise might have been the culprit in this case. My client was doing the “dead bug” abdominal exercise incorrectly. She was overusing her hip flexors and arching her back – not recruiting her lower abs at all. This could have been enough to lock up her iliacus muscle and put pressure on her bladder.
NO antibiotics needed. Now that’s cool.
- ka
